British Helicopter Crashes in Southern Iraq, 4 Dead

Police in Iraq say a British helicopter has crashed in the southern city of Basra, apparently after being hit by a rocket or missile.

Officials say the helicopter went down in a residential area Saturday, and the bodies of the four crew members were found in the wreckage.

Iraqi police also say four people were killed in a clash between British troops and a crowd of Iraqis at the crash site. The Iraqis cheered the crash, threw stones at the troops, and set fire to British armored vehicles.

Separately, officials say a suicide bomber dressed in an army uniform blew himself up inside an Iraqi army base in the northern city of Tikrit earlier today, killing three army officers.

The U.S. military also said a U.S. soldier was killed Friday in Baghdad in a roadside bomb attack.

In other violence, police say at least two Iraqi truck drivers and three police commandos were kidnapped in separate incidents in Mahaweel, 75 kilometers south of the capital, Baghdad.